L.A.'S PET TROUBLES REQUIRE DOGGED RULES.

Byline: Dan Knapp

The Daily News recently challenged the Department of Animal Services of Los Angeles to show evidence that charging a fee to breed a dog or cat would reduce reckless breeding.

Such an answer is obvious, if one has read the draft ordinance. Individuals who wish to breed their dog or cat must comply with permit requirements. Whelping only one litter per year, assuring that the offspring are at least eight weeks of age and immunized against common diseases before placement into a new home, and notifying the department of the identity of new owners are permit conditions.

It is also quite clear that when presented with paying for a permit or spaying or neutering their pet, only those who are the most serious of dog or cat breeders will pursue the former.

Unfortunately, regulations are sometimes needed to encourage that responsible industry. Firm regulations will help encourage that purebred pets - with healthy inherited characteristics - are carefully placed into homes where serious owners will also follow through with responsible breeding and placement.

It is the hobbyists, backyard breeders, and those who have not given a second thought to the potential of accidental pregnancies who, when presented with mandated choice, will choose the less expensive option of spaying or neutering the animal.

The American Kennel Club and cat fanciers agree that hobbyists should not be breeding purebred dogs and cats. Real-life urban problems, ``like 44,000 stray dogs roaming our streets,'' result when owners do not take responsibility for the behavior of the pet and their offspring.

In 1998, more than 72,000 dogs and cats came into the city's six animal shelters. Their owners claimed only 7 percent. Seventy-five percent were euthanized due to illness, unsafe behavior or lack of space. The city's six animal shelters are operating over capacity with four to seven dogs being held per kennel. Last year, 78 percent of cats admitted were killed, predominantly during breeding season, from March through September.

This year, the city is spending a total of $15.3 million or $191 per animal for care, housing and euthanasia of dogs and cats. According to a recent study, a $21 million budget would be required - an expenditure of $262 per animal - to adequately respond to the city's animal problems. Legal opinion is that the permit fees charged by this proposed law are fees, not taxes. Yet, the question remains, as the cost of animal control grows due to unabated breeding: Do responsible people want to pay more taxes?

It is estimated that Los Angeles residents could own as many as 828,000 dogs and 1,217,000 domestic cats. It is not unreasonable to assume that the feral cat population is twice that of those owned - nearly 2.5 million. One female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years, while one female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in six years.

Not since the rabies epidemic of 1954 have mothers walked their children to school carrying baseball bats. In many L.A. neighborhoods, this fear is part of daily life. Dog bites are the No. 1 health problem for children, eclipsing measles, mumps and whooping cough combined.

The median age of bite victims is 12 and children under the age of 10 receive 65 percent of the reported bites to the face. Sexually intact dogs are twice as likely to bite than sterilized animals, and unsterilized dogs account for 95 percent of all fatal maulings. Thirty percent to 50 percent of dog bites are provoked when someone enters the dog's territory and most of the time, the victim knows the dog.

Two major reasons heard at the shelters for owner relinquishment of dogs and puppies are ``he has never bitten anyone before,'' and ``she never left the yard, until in heat.'' ``She climbed the fence,'' or ``a male dog climbed the fence'' is the No. 1 reason given for relinquishing puppies.

Early in August a case of dog rabies was reported in Sacramento, the first in several decades. The California Department of Public Health is once again alerting the public to the immediate need for inoculation of dogs and cats against rabies.

An estimated 44,000 stray dogs roam L.A.'s neighborhoods annually, and nearly 3 million cats live on the streets - the majority assumed not to be inoculated. The state public health department estimates that for each contact these cats have with the potential rabies vector, they have nine contacts with humans.

When in 1954, 550 dogs succumbed to rabies in the city and 4,400 humans were given the Pasteur treatment, the City Council recommended an ordinance requiring owners to inoculate their dogs against rabies and purchase a license. Responsible owners felt that this penalized them, but so great was the threat to public health that - after much public debate - the ordinance was passed. The state followed suit with a similar requirement.

Yes, responsible owners are not the problem. But, a responsible response from all of us is to begin to solve the problem. To stop a fire, you must aim the extinguisher at the base of the blaze. To stop this public health threat and the mass killing of animals in our city, we must aim at the base of the wildfire - uncontrolled breeding. To do less would be irresponsible.

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Photo

Photo: An elderly female husky-shepherd dog.